Bit rough but plodding on

It’s been a rotten old week plus for me, not been well to understate the case. I won’t bore with the gory details, but beginning to get better now. I loathe being ill, it seems such a waste to laze away and not enjoy it on a beach!

Managed a few small jobs but nothing like what was on the plan. The most urgent construction job being the new compost bins. The wood is in the workshed so it doesn’t matter what the weather is like but I’ve just not been up to the task.

And just to squash the rumour before it starts, I wasn’t glued to a certain sporting event in the capital. I’m sure it’s all a fake anyway.. Britain getting gold medals?? What nonsense, we always come last – nil points.

Seriously, amazing performances and well done to all those athletes who didn’t win a medal but tried their hardest – you can’t ask for more.

Potato Blight

What an idiot I was to think we might be safe as there is nobody else growing potatoes nearby.. the spores float for miles. Yep, it’s struck. Luckily the main crops are resistant varieties and still standing well but the haulm had to go from the second earlies.

Val’s keen sense of smell picked up the odour of blight in the sack of first earlies in store. So they had to get tipped out and sorted. The rotten ones thrown into the waste bin rather than compost in case they spread spores for next year.

Greenhouse

In the greenhouse some of the tomato plants seem to have a bit of blight as well so leaf removal to try and slow it down. The tomatoes are so slow this year, lots of green ones but very few red.

It’s time to stop the tomatoes now, most are forming their 5^th truss and any more that develop won’t have time to ripen. That’s unless we have a hot and sunny December and the way the weather’s been recently, I wouldn’t be totally surprised at that!

We’re enjoying our own broad beans, Witkiem Manita. After eating shop-bought, frozen ones .. well it’s like drinking vintage wine against cheap plonk. Combine with our own Arran Pilot new potatoes, lamb chops from lambs raised on our fields and a little cheese sauce. Another inch goes onto the waistline, blast! But heavenly.

Well the good news is that the weather is supposed to be dry for the rest of the week and even getting hot here. So, with a bit of luck I’ll have a lot more to write about next weekend.